Happily?
by Arista Costas
Summary: Angus Finnigan, famous writer, is sitting in a pub when a woman with a familiar voice steps onto the stage. Featuring "I Told You So" By Carrie Underwood. Rating to be safe. Miscarriage and sex referred to  no explicit


When Angus Finnigan wanted to hide from the paparazzi's prying cameras he slid into Gallagher's Pub. It was exactly the sort of place one would expect to find a successful writer, though surprisingly no one ever recognized him. The exterior of the building was...rugged to be polite. The forest and mint green sign was scratched and faded. The shutters used to be green also, but now had the hue of a newly paved road. The cobblestone street in front of it was as old as the city, and has not been touched since being put down.

Inside, the building was no better. The wooden floor was sticky with probably a year's worth of spilled alcohol and dirt from the streets. The air was swirled with multi-colored smoke; gray, yellow and purple all danced together in elaborate patterns. The dark, wooden tables were dinged and dented from years of raucous bar fights and broken glasses. Angus's favorite booth was in the corner where a very miniscule amount of light could reach. There was a small stage in the back by the bar, with a piano and a single microphone. This is where Angus's attention was currently.

There was a spotlight and a woman was slinking onto the stage. She wore a long green dress which clung to every curve perfectly, outlining her large breasts. Her long blonde hair was curled in an old Marilyn Monroe fashion. Red lipstick? Applied perfectly. Her pale skin looked alabaster in the spotlight. The woman was a goddess. She was a stranger, but something rang familiar in Angus's brain. Was it her sultry walk that reminded him of someone else? She definitely had not sung at this pub while Angus was here.

The pianist started playing a slow song, haunting song. After a few seconds, the woman's mouth opened and when he heard her voice, it was if the heavens had opened up. It was a voice he heard many times in his youth, and would recognize anywhere. The words she sang shook Angus to his core.

"Suppose I called you up tonight  
And told you that I loved you  
And suppose I said I wanna come back home  
And suppose I cried and said I think I finally learned my lesson  
And I'm tired of spending all my time alone

If I told you that I realize you're all I ever wanted  
And it's killing me to be so far away  
Would you tell me that you love me too  
And would we cry together  
Or would you simply laugh at me and say

I told you so  
Oh, I told you so  
I told you someday you'd come crawling back  
And asking me to take you in  
I told you so  
But you had to go  
Now I found somebody new and you will never break my heart in two again

If I got down on my knees and told you I was yours forever  
Would you get down on yours too and take my hand  
Would we get that old time feeling  
Would we laugh and talk for hours  
The way we did when our love first began

Would you tell me that you missed me too  
And that you've been so lonely  
And you've waited for the day that I returned  
And we would live and love forever  
And that I'm your one and only  
Or would you say the tables finally turn

Would you say I told you so  
Oh, I told you so  
I told you someday you'd come crawling back  
And asking me to take you in  
I told you so  
But you had to go

Now I found somebody new and you will never break my heart in two again  
Now I found someone new and you will never break my heart in two again"

The song ended and the woman slowly walked off of the stage and to the bar. Every eye in the room was turned in the woman's direction, but she seemed to be unaware of the attention. Angus took one last swig of his muggle whiskey and water and left the bar.

Once out on the deserted street Angus finally allowed himself to breathe. He was positive the woman in the green dress was none other than his Lily. Lily Potter. The voice, so pure and haunted, was so familiar and brought back many memories of their time at Hogwarts, and years together afterwards.

They met in Angus's fifth year, Lily's fourth. At that point she had still been a silly little girl with her whole life ahead of her. No fear, no trepidations. She was just enjoying her life day to day. They met at the library, Angus reaching over her head to help her reach a book. After that it was a whirlwind. They fell in love before either knew what was happening. It was a flurry of kisses by the lake and hands held under the table in the Great Hall. It was their first big fight a year later when Annabeth McCordia started the rumor that Lily had been hanging out with Baldric Goyle in the Slytherin common room. Their love was long nights in the room of requirement with just a piano and Lily's voice reverberating against the high ceilings.

The year they were apart after Angus graduated was the hardest. Letters became less frequent due to busy schedules and it looked as if the end of their story was near. But Lily was not about to let go, so she got her parents to sign a letter allowing her off of grounds for a day. She Floo'd to his flat while he was at work. The dinner she made was delicious and the evening was even better. The two had decided to wait until she graduated to take it to the next step, but after that night their bond was infinitely tighter.

A year after Lily graduated from Hogwarts she decided to continue her education at a muggle university close to Angus's apartment. They moved in together. It was not easy but the two were so in love that all of the bumps in the road were quickly paved and they never looked back.

Then she got pregnant. The two were ecstatic. Lily was twenty three and they were engaged. The rest of their lives were at the doorstep, no longer a faraway thing. Lily started picking out names and painting the nursery a light crème color. Angus started buying little green bears and yellow giraffes. Then one morning Angus woke up to Lily's screams. There was blood. A lot of it. The Healers told them there was nothing to be done. It was a rare condition where his DNA and her DNA just wouldn't be compatible once the baby started developing and growing into more than just a cluster of cells. Lily was inconsolable. All she had dreamed of her whole life was a family. She dreamed of a nice husband, three kids (two boys, named Shaun and Ethan, and a girl, named Caroline). That diminished the moment they heard the news. They tried to work past it, but Lily could not wrap her mind around being with a man who could not give her children.

The morning Angus woke up and found a note where Lily usually slept was no surprise, but it hurt. He was a shell of himself; he never got out of bed. His mother and father often stopped by to make sure the house was clean and that he had food (Mom) and to make sure that the liquor cabinets were empty (Dad). His sister had to do his laundry. It was as if Angus was a vegetable. It was not until Barry Thomas came by and dragged Angus to Diagon Alley two months later that Angus had felt the sunlight on his face.

A year later his book, Pianos, was published. It was a big seller. It was the story of him and Lily. It went thirty years into the future where the main character, William, is hit by a car and dies alone on the street. There is no happy ending, no 'Happily Ever After'.

And there she was, singing in his favorite pub. It was as if God had decided it was time for him to become human again; to have compassion again. Slowly Angus walked back into the pub, towards the back where he knew dressing rooms for the singers were. He found the room with the light on, and knocked slowly.

"Come in." He heard that soft, melodious voice say. Slowly he creaked the door open. First he saw the flowing red hair, which he knew belonged to Lily Potter. As her eyes met his in the mirror, she slowly stopped all movement and turned in her chair to face him.

"How did you know it was me?" She asked softly.  
"I would know that voice anywhere." In two quick steps he was right in front of her. He plopped onto the chair and just stared at the face he had been missing for a year and a half.

"I read your book, Ang" She whispered. All he said was, "Why that song?"

There was a long pause in which she thought of an appropriate answer. Angus was willing to sit back and wait. As she looked around the room, he observed her face. The brown eyes that glanced all around seemed to be lacking the light they held in their youth. Her skin had a certain pallor about it.

"I miss you. I was stupid. I don't need children or a big home or pets. I only need you," She said so softly he almost missed it. "I know what I did was horrible just leaving you there, but I was so young and had to face a reality…" He cut her off by holding up his hand. He could see in her face the fear that he was going to turn her away. But instead he grabbed her hand. He looked into her eyes and smiled. Their future together ran through both of their minds; adopting a few children, having a cat…maybe a dog, growing old together and rocking in their chairs on the porch. All that ran through Angus's mind; "Sometimes there is a happily ever after"

I do not own anything…except the general plot and Angus Finnigan. The song is "I Told You So" by Carrie Underwood.


End file.
